In the storage of liquid foodstuffs, and particularly beverages, the food product can have better flavor, have a longer shelf life, be made without preservatives, and/or can use less stable or unstable ingredients if certain of the ingredients can be stored separately from the carrier liquid until the food product is to be consumed. For example, a beverage can have better taste if the flavoring can be stored in dry form and mixed with the carrier liquid just prior to use. Some flavorings, oils, vitamins, supplements, medicines, and other ingredients when mixed with water, soda, or other liquid media are unstable, and therefore may not be used with currently sold beverages and liquid mixtures. Oxygenated water is known to have health benefits but is chemically reactive, and therefore flavors, vitamins, supplements, and pharmaceuticals cannot be combined with it in a stored product. Many beverages, sauces, and condiments require high levels of preservatives to control fermentation with sugar content.
Prior devices have been proposed for storing ingredients separately from the carrier liquid until the product is to be used, however they have a number of disadvantages. Some devices, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,779,372, 5,529,179, 5,431,276, and 5,885,635, for example, have a burstable compartment attached to the underside of the container lid or cap which is burst open to mix ingredients into the carrier liquid by levering a puncturing tab or depressing a plunger element with an applied pressure. However, these devices may be unsafe or messy to use since a high applied pressure must be used to burst open the compartment, and may cause the ingredients spew out of the container or back toward the user.
Other devices, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,179,275, 3,225,915, or 5,064,073, for example, have a sub-compartment formed in the container top or held in the container neck with can be accessed by removing an outer seal strip, flap, or membrane. However, these devices are not suitable for the current vending machine environment, since the outer sealing member can become accidentally dislodged or punctured during transport or handling.
Some devices, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,024,952, 4,221,291 and 4,264,007, for example, have one or more sub-compartments formed inside the container on the underside of the container lid or cap which have a tilting or gate type element that is actuated by releasing or applying pressure to a component from the outside of the container lid or cap. These types of devices have the disadvantage that the ingredients are completely discharged into the liquid upon release, and cannot be metered or controllably added to the liquid according to the tastes of the user.
Another device, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,011, for example, has a removable sub-container with removable seal which rests in the container neck covered by the container cap until it is ready to be used. However, this type of device has only a single compartment and does not have provision for easily metering ingredients into the container after the seal is opened.
Other types of devices, as shown in U.S. Pat. No, 5,114,011, for example, have a sub-container formed with one or more sub-compartments which is mounted to the underside of the container cap. However, the sub-compartments in these devices are disposed at opposite ends of the sub-container element and are opened by threaded elements, thereby making them costly to fabricate and awkward to use.